Tuesday, September 09, 2008

TOP STORY > >Candidates in showdown

By RICK KRONLeader staff writer

Jacksonville may get its own school district, but it won’t get the Adkins Pre-K center, said Gwen Williams, the Zone 7 Pulaski County Special School District Board incumbent during a Monday evening debate with her challenger, Alderman Reedie Ray.

“That’s my baby,” she said, explaining that when the district tried to close it she fought for it to stay open and help develop it as a pre-K center in order to save the school, adding, “I don’t care about Jacksonville getting their schools.”

The school located off Hwy. 161. is within the Jacksonville city limits and is included in Jacksonville’s proposed breakaway district.

What was billed as a debate between Zone 7 candidates, Wil-liams and Ray, at the McAlmont Church of Christ, was not. It was a nearly one-sided support meeting for Williams.

Of the nearly 50 people attending, the majority was district teachers and staff who support Williams, members of her reelection committee were also in the audience as well as a few parents and four city leaders from Jacksonville.

Alderman Bob Stroud said it spoke volumes about Ray’s character that he stayed in the hostile environment and answered all the questions. “I would have walked out,” Stroud said.

Ray got on the wrong side right away saying, and receiving jeers, “The wrong people are here. It’s all staff, we need parents here. They are the ones that need to show concern for the children,” he said.

Many of those district staff members remember when Ray was the school board president in 1994 and fought against the union when they went on strike. “They had nothing to negotiate at the time,” he said.

“So Mr. Ray, what you are saying is that teachers do not have the right to strike for better pay to feed their families and pay bills? Did I hear you correctly so I can inform my staff when I return to school tomorrow?” one teacher asked.

Ray tried to explain that he was in a union and had no problems with the union, but he said in 1994 there was no money in the district. “The union went on strike just to show that it could. The union does not run the district, the superintendent and school board do,” he said to jeers.

Most of the audience questions were written down in advance and were from Williams supporters geared to showcase Williams.

Whenever Williams spoke, it was to applause, sometimes thunderous, and when Ray spoke the reaction ranged from silence to jeers. At the end, Williams got a standing ovation and Ray got nothing.

Williams, who has served on the board since 1996, said her allegiance was with Zone 7. “I went to Harris Elementary. I’ve sent five children to Harris, five grand children and three great-grandchildren there. I have truly represented you, this community and the Scott community,” Williams said.

Ray, whose children and grandchildren have attended schools in the district, said his goal was to ensure that Jacksonville separated from the county district.

“The county district is just too big. It needs to become more manageable,” he said. He believes both Jacksonville and the county district would benefit from the separation. “I want to make sure the children learn,” he said.

One of Ray’s major concerns for the district, but especially Jacksonville, was the buildings and infrastructure.

“We haven’t had a new school in 30 years,” Ray said. “Our entire infrastructure has gone down since I left in 1994.”

The candidate added that the buildings are so deteriorated in Jacksonville that the air base’s welcoming committee tells incoming military not to send their children to Jacksonville schools. “That’s a shame. We have to do something,” he said. “We have to bring our infrastructure back up to improve our education level.”

Williams responded, “It’s not the buildings that educate our children, it’s the people in the buildings.”

“Besides,” she added, “Jackson-ville would have already had three new schools if it had supported the last millage increase.

Jacksonville, Maumelle and Sherwood have never supported a millage campaign. If you think Jacksonville will pass a millage for its own district, why won’t you pass it for the county?”